


What Nobody Knows

by sahrmael



Series: Don't Know How To Reach You [3]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Family, Family Secrets, Gen, Post-Thousand Year Blood War, and she's much less afraid than her predecessor, and that somehow makes him happy, but mayuri is a stunted bastard so he won't admit it, fluffy af, from my ff.net, i'm not crying, she's a perfect darling of a child
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:01:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27288331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sahrmael/pseuds/sahrmael
Summary: People think that what they see is enough to confirm their suspicions. Nemuri knows that's not true. She knows her captain better than anyone, and there are things about him that nobody sees. (Post-TYBW)
Relationships: Akon & Hachigou Nemuri, Hachigou Nemuri & Kurotsuchi Mayuri
Series: Don't Know How To Reach You [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1992439
Kudos: 6





	What Nobody Knows

No matter the time of day, from the moment those eyes begin to close, a bit of unease flutters through her chest, and she feels acutely awake and aware. It has become known to little Nemuri that this feeling is called _anxiety_ , and that it manifests itself when one develops thoughts of uncertainty and apprehension.

He is _busy_. She knows this. By choice, of course, but that does little to challenge her worry. Close in proximity as she always is, she is very much aware of his lack of restraint and concern regarding his own health. Sometimes, he goes days without sleep, and it shows. In particular when he reluctantly elects to utilize the effects of stimulants just to power through the last several hours of logging notes or recording new findings.

She knows better than to voice any concerns, for doing so serves only to break his train of thought and induce further stress and frustration. It isn't her fault. She knows this. All the same, she keeps quiet, watches, leaves him to his own devices, all while remaining nearby in the event that she is needed.

He won't ask for her help, but she is still there.

Young as she is, the mistake is often made that she is unaware of her surroundings. That couldn't be further from the truth. She is ever aware, attentive, silent in the face of the critical remarks made in regards to her division and her captain.

She has been taught not to care, nor to report anything to him that does not pertain to her duties or to outside interference into the division. While Nemuri knows this rule well and obeys, some of the things they say still trouble her greatly.

They like to talk about the things they see – rather, what they _think_ they're seeing.

What people are _not_ privy to is the way he teaches her, challenges her growing mind, often to the obvious amusement of his lieutenant who watches with a hidden smile. They do not see the little glimmers of pride and satisfaction in his eyes when she completes an equation, or the way he pats her on the head when she presents the proper solutions to his many questions.

He is _very_ different with her than with the others who serve to further his work. That is not to say that she has not witnessed his temper and penchant for violence, only that she has not been on the receiving end of it.

They often whisper when he leaves, speaking to a change in his behavior now when compared to the time during which her predecessor had been present. She knows nothing about that, for she has no memory extending further back than the first time she peered into the lab through a tank of chemically-infused fluid. The way he is now is, in her mind, as he has always been.

It is through speaking with Akon that she has come to understand these alleged changes in behavior are as close as the captain will come to showing any kind of affection.

The world itself is an enigma, something to be picked apart and processed, one bit at a time. Nemuri expects that people are much the same. Her captain, whether he recognizes it or not, is to be disseminated and processed as well, but in much more... subtle ways than most.

So she watches, waits, and learns.

Tonight, the child again sits well within reach, knowing he won't wake. His breathing is steady, regular, but it isn't always, and she knows it won't last. Whether his restlessness is natural, or but the side effect of many years of tests and modifications, she can't know.

She is well-versed in the needs of this man, her maker, and often recognizes when he has exhausted his reserves. But he is stubborn, and she has learned to remain silent on the matter, if only out of some manner of respect and concern for him that she can't quite place.

It doesn't bother her. That's just the way things are.


End file.
